Well I decided to take a structure in my backyard and convert it to an outdoor (obviously) kitchen, bar, patio, etc. area. I've already covered the top with reed fencing.
this is the structure:
you can kinda see that it is just an arbor type thing about 20' across and around 12' deep where it connects to the house and tapers off to about 7' deep at the end of it that's farthest away from the house.

Some of my goals for this project are:
water proof the roof--add wall to back to block view of neighbors house from inside--add a decorative gable (hand-carved?), maybe Sumatran style or Maori meeting house style would look pretty cool too. Not to mention, add some elements of exotica--bamboo, reed fence, tapa, etc.

Been doing some research on Oceanic architecture for some inspiration---found these NZ patterns:
I opted to try a rendition of the Pakura pattern on some 2X6's or 8's for a header/fascia panel for the front.

Here I've printed out a 'template' that I did w/ Adobe Illustrator. I had to tape 2 print-outs together to get a complete section of Pakura pattern.

Now I've transferred the pattern to the 2x6 via carbon paper. I laid the template over the carb-paper, held it in place with some push-pins and traceed the pattern w/ a pencil.
Here's a shot of an 8' 2x6 with complete pattern transfer. You can see I started to go back over the transfer w/ a sharpie marker but found it unneccessary.

Let the chips fly!

Veeee-ola! several hours later--16 feet of 'Pakura fascia'. A die-hard traditionalist may scoff, but I just used a parting tool to cut the lines transferred onto the wood--no fancy relief carving or anything like that. I also added some little V cuts down the edges of the boards to give some extra detail.
Hope to stain and install within the next few days.

_________________
When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading. -- Henny Youngman

Thanx, yous guys. I get a feeling that this is gonna be one of those 'stop-n-go' projects but I'm on a roll now-like a surf-n-turf hoagie--yehoooo!

Got my 'pakura fascia' stained and installed today. I hit it w/ some ebony stain and quickly wiped the surface off with a mineral spirits soaked rag to remove some of the surface stain while leaving as much as possible in the deeper reccesses. I likes it--certainly not museum quality, but it's effective and that was my goal.
You can see in the above pic the 3 -2x6's laying on the roof, protruding from the front--that's a rough approximation of where the gable will be.
better pic below

On the cover of the BOT, there is a tiki coming out of the top of the gable, like a continuation of the ridge of the roof--looks real cool. So I thought I'd try to set something like that up --a tekoteko man-protruding from the front---yeah! Maybe holding a spear or some other utensil.

I drew up a side view:
Then 'carbon-papered' it to the piece of 2x6:
sliced him out w/ the bandsaw (3 slabs):
then glued the teko-slabs together:
I'll see if I can get some carve time in tommorrow and hopefully post some progress-over and out.

Brad, that is an awesome start to what will be a killer project I'm sure. Thanks for the tips on how you transfer patterns. I am always interested in how other carvers do that kind of stuff. The pakura fascia looks great!

A-A
_________________"Ah, good taste! What a dreadful thing! Taste is the enemy of creativeness."
-Pablo Picasso

Just finished some big job related projects so i've had (and still have) a few days to kill w/ backyard tikificaion projects. I finished the teko gable ornament and drew up a gable design to carve. Here's the pics-
rough-out of teko style head with some SnT cartoon style added (can't help it)

here's 2 cartoon style heads for you!

Started bringing him to life a little more this morn (7-22). Fun style to carve--my first of this kind. Kinda neat to try for the almost human features.

side view-need to add tatts now:

Tatts sketched out:

tatts carved- bad pic, can't see everything:

A little stain and he's about good to go (after some sealer). He'll be holding a spear or harpoon in his tiny little hands eventually.

Was done with this guy by midday and got to work some on the actual gable structure on the roof-the future home of the '2 X Teko'. Here's what I plan to carve on the gable face-looks mighty ambitious but I'll see what I can do. The little photo embedded in the gable graphic is the sole inspiration for the carving (came from a photo of a door from a house in Timor)--the only part I 'gained inspiration from'. The section with the fish and the top with the sunburst and waves is more SnT cartoony style:
Checkin' back in tommorrow, hopefully.

Surf-n-Turf!
Incredible! That little Guy is coming along so great! And the last pic with the sun and the fish are going to be bombs from the look of it! You are driven and talented! A good mix! Mahalo for keeping us updated! There's like an army of talent here at TC! Incredible!Great work man!

That teko looks GREAT! Very nice carving - I love his expression. That's quite a cool/amitious project ya got goin' there and it's coming together very nicely. Can't wait to see more!
_________________OMG! I'm on Instagram!

Sheeez! I forgot to give mahalo's before I posted new progress pics last night.

Tikiwahine: Thanx and I think you should carve a beam--if you can get a pattern, get it onto the wood and swing a hammer at a chisel---you're set. It's easier than you might think.

Aaron: thank you also- I feel like I have a killer vision but sometimes (for me anyway) the final results miss their mark- sometimes by a long shot -sometimes close. There may be an easier way to transfer patterns but this method was the most obvious.

Hey Surf...Excellent work with the gable carving...thanks for the step-by-step pics....I
love the side view of the lips and tongue...so good that it reminds me of stuff done by
that other guy....Ben. This is going to be a wonderful project...I agree with GMan that
it should be in the "carving" thread.